Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-12-23
Good Farming Pays.

fidelity among farmers which not the
religious. but the agricultural. press
can best deal with. This is. briefly. the
want OF faith that their business is or
can be profitable. II prevails to-day
more extensively than ever before, and
is undoubtedly due TO the sharper com
petition that the farming business has
been subjected to- Ii was bad enough
when the great West poured its cheap
ly grown products in competition with
those OF Eastern farmers. Now both
alike are threatened with more ruinous
competition from the cheap pauper
labor of semi-baroarous India. The
infection of this iniidelty has extend
ell to nearly all the agricultural press.
and it is high time that efforts be made
TO counteract ii.
We have always said. and now re-
peat, that good farming pays. But
what is meant by good farming? Is
agriculture the unprogressive science
or business that alone remains the
same, while everything around It
changes? Ii it is. then most lamenta-
BILE indeed is the prospect for American
farmers. We know that in ayr cutur-
al implements and labor-saving ma
chnery connected with farming there
has been astounding progress. But
this itself is not improved farm ng. 1t
only furnishes the means to make bet
ter farm ng poss bic. In fact. by en-
larg ing the areas of land under cultiva-
ton, labor saving farm implements are
apt to make farming poorer rather than
better. And the great difficulty with
the farming bus ness at present is that
American inventions in harvesting ma
chincry have gone all over the world.
Phey are used in Australia, Ind a and
on the plains of Russ II almost n free
ly as by the farmers OF our own coun-
try.
1t is not merely the good farming
that PAYS 1t must be something more
than good. an improvement on the
nd that made farmers reasonably
prosperous forty or fifty years ago.
This requires personal thought and
skill. such As have never before been
demanded in the farmers bus ness
The old idea of farming. and for its
time the correct idea, was that i was
mainly hard work. The method OF
farming run in ruts. and when a han
got into one Of these all he had 10 do
was TO pull ahead. He need not even
plan. The rut was all sufficient TO
direct his course. The man who got
up earliest, worked hardest and long
est. made the most money. He was by
these facts the good farmer, and there
fore successful.
Hard work never has been and never
will he entirely eliminated from filling
the soil. ThOrns and tn stiles and
weeds il produces rs it always has done
and it is still IN the sweat of his brow
that the soil tiller eats his bread. But
we have relieved the farmer from more
toll than would once have been thought
possible. oulv il operates pretty i'm
partially upon farmers Of all classes.
The better farming now needed must
b. the Individual work and thought of
the farmer himself II he cannot plan.
calculate and judge about tho details
of h business. he is in no better shape
for success than his unskilled com
petitors, who perhaps work harder
and for less wages than he.
Can American farmers maintain
their civilization. culture and interest
in all that concerns humanity. while in
competition with semi barbarous com
petitors? There is no more important
question than this before the American
publ to-day. 1t far transcends The
pretty disputes of political partisans
about the spois of office. We believe
they can and that it can only be done
through such improvements in farm
stock Of every kind. and IN methods OF
manuring. Undertaking and cultiva-
ton, a. TO enormously increase the
value OF all our agricultural products.
Possibly in some things it NAV be inn
possible for us to hold our own. These
the sklul farmer will avoid, and by
giving advice through the agricultural
press on this subject, ho will help to
put the farm NJ of this country on
better bas : than It has ever been be-
fore. There was never before time
when sound practical farm talk was
more important than il il just now.
When farmers are getting out of old
ruts. as most of them are now obi ged
to do. 1t is more necessary than ever
that they shall start in new paths,
where they will no; at once run on I'M
known breakers. -4D,eytcan CuiiiUator.
A Progressive Age.